We’ve almost reached the end of 2024, and marketers around the world are beginning to lay out their plans for the coming year.
But with so much change and uncertainty in the air, it can be tricky to know exactly how best to build strategies for the future, so to help you get a handle on the challenges that lie ahead, we asked some leading marketing experts for their thoughts on the biggest trends of 2025.
Need more insights? Read our 2025 Marketing Trends Guide.
Table of Contents
- Gen Alpha Digital Culture
- Leverage Cultural Intelligence
- Faster AI Adoption
- Quality is Critical
- Brand Health Focus
- AI Adding Value
- Collapsing Echo Chambers
- The Power of Collaboration
- Optimize for AI
- Rising Narrative Attacks
- Personalization & Trust
- AI Regulation Benefits
Brands Adopt Unhinged Digital Culture
The Webby Awards Team
This year, we saw niche, absurd obsessions take center stage online. Chronically online humor is in the way Gen Z and Gen Alpha speak, in their content, and in their expectations of brands. It’s a trend that is bleeding beyond the walls of TikTok. Given the speed viral trends take off—and the ease of using Generative AI to create absurd content—”brainrot” or “unhinged” humor are present in our digital spaces, as well as branded work.
Consumers are open to absurdity, so jump in when it makes sense. Tap into shared language, but consider your timing with absurd trends. Be authentic; make sure chronically online trends work with your brand voice. To give your brand more credibility, work with content creators who are already known for their fun and “chaotic” content.
If it works for your brand, lean into “unhinged” executions, and let your content take on a life of its own. Brands like Teletubbies HQ and Nutter Butter have made waves with their attention-grabbing executions. We expect to see more marketing that creates new paths for audiences to share joy.
And ultimately, in 2025 marketers may be faced with two choices: lean into creating absurdity in their creative work, or build experiences for audiences to find a reprieve.
Read the 2025 Webby Trend Report, sponsored by Meltwater.
Cultural Intelligence as a Strategic Anchor
Melanie Klausner, Executive Vice President; New York Lead, Havas Red
In a world where cultural shifts are accelerated by technology, social media, and global interconnectedness, brands need to move from just observing trends to actively using data and intelligence to anticipate cultural shifts and be ready to meet them. True cultural intelligence goes beyond trend-watching; it’s about deeply understanding the layered nuances of culture and actively engaging with it.
It’s not only about responding to change but also about helping shape it. By aligning with the values, behaviors, and expectations of their audiences in real time, brands can create lasting connections that go beyond relevance—they build trust and become integral to the conversations that matter most.
The brands that bring deeper cultural context into co-creation, content and connecting more meaningfully with their audiences will stand out. Going forward, cultural relevance will be less of an add-on and more of a strategic anchor.
Accelerated AI Adoption & Impact
Jim Reynolds, Executive Vice President - GTM, AI, Edelman PR
2024 was a whirlwind of a year for marketers and communicators. They faced unexpected global crises, 64 global elections, Twitter fully transitioned into X, and TikTok trends fueled every cultural change one could imagine. And oh yeah... Google decided not to kill the cookie after all.
As we look retrospectively and ask what we predict will impact marketers and communicators in 2025, I resoundingly come back to the concept of AI. The speed of AI adoption will go even faster than expected and change everything. Conventional adoption would have you think that it will crawl at a slow pace, but as we’ve seen through the emergence of AI being embedded in every device, from the iPhone to your toaster, it will change how we market (and rapidly).
Now that we’ve seen generational model updates to drive faster and more complete access to insights and research out of tools like Meltwater and the improvement of generative image and video tools like Runway and Adobe’s Firefly, digital avatar platforms like Synthesia AI are inching toward near-human-like interactions and just like that, the marketer's toolkit has evolved. Marketers and communicators who do not adapt to the age of AI in their daily work will be left behind.
That gap will become even more apparent when a moment like Oreos Dunk In The Dark allows the AI-enabled marketing team to seize that moment and make a cultural impact like no other. We will no longer watch in awe as communicators work quickly. It will become table stakes.
Quality Matters More than Ever
Carolyn Sklar, VP of Brand Communications and Corporate Brand at Danone North America
This might sound traditional, but one word comes to mind as I think about 2025: quality (or maybe it’s because I finally finished Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance… IYKYK). Consumers are going to continue to be inundated by more content and more offerings from more brands, but the truth is their reality leaves them with less attention, less time and less resources to give.
Comprehensive quality across marketing touchpoints will be an important distinction. When you invest in partnerships, content, and experiences – are those leading to quality relationships and a quality impression of your brand? Are you looking with clear eyes at the changing media landscape to invest in places where a quality impression is possible, and will make an impact in the circular (less linear) version of consumers’ decision-making process?
Certainly, AI and other significant marketing trends of 2025 will play a huge role in how we market, but it will be important to set filters for quality (measurable!) interactions between your brand consumer, across paid, owned and earned. Looking inward, quality of connection will matter internally both in-house and with agency partners. We all have fragmented attention, too, and need to lead the work and teams in a way that creates an environment for quality ideas to be created.
Brand Health Takes Center Stage
Chris Hackney, Chief Product Officer, Meltwater
CMOs are moving away from reactive to proactive brand health strategies. Because of this, marketers are rethinking their reliance on conventional methods, like sporadic market research surveys. While helpful, this data is not enough — and quickly becomes outdated.
The availability of advanced data analytics and AI tools, such as those offered by Meltwater, provide marketing departments with real-time brand reputation monitoring and measurement to gain a comprehensive view of their brand perception.
Teams can act on these insights more immediately through AI-driven summaries that help marketing teams understand the public discussions about their brand, track competitor brand sentiment, and adjust strategies on the fly based on real-time feedback.
Crisis monitoring, integrated within a brand’s tech ecosystem, is now a cornerstone of effective brand health management. Automated spike detection and analysis provides an early warning system that helps comms professionals get ahead of any potential crisis quickly. As these technologies become more accessible, brands that invest in real-time, AI-powered monitoring systems are well-positioned to protect their reputation and capitalize on new opportunities with precision and agility.
Embracing AI Will Secure Ancillary Benefits
Erica Fields, Executive Vice President, Head of NA DXT and I&A, WE Communications
Recent data from WE Communications and USC Annenberg Center for Public Relations reveals that communicators who use AI more frequently report being more excited to come to work, and are 93% more likely to say they feel valued at work. This makes a clear case for a culture mandate; empower your teams to embrace AI and, in turn, enhance their relationship to their jobs.
As more comms organizations look to create AI-forward work cultures, the data shows the two strongest predictors of success are encouragement from an employer and giving individuals latitude to find ways of working with AI that benefit them. This means managers have an opportunity to be even more declarative about where and how AI can be prioritized and give room to help team members interpret that guidance in their unique ways and watch them flourish.
Storytelling and Breakdown of Echo Chambers
Nicolette Addesa, Public Relations Lead, EY Canada
Individuals are becoming increasingly conscious of the echo chambers created by our mediated consumption of information. By 2025, I anticipate this growing awareness will motivate people to explore diverse media outlets and broaden their sources of information.
To be a good media storyteller, one must actively consume media and stay informed about local, national, and global events. Understanding current trends and issues is crucial. Utilizing technology efficiently helps in keeping up with the fast-paced media landscape. By being well-informed, storytellers can craft narratives that stand out and contribute meaningfully, rather than adding to the noise.
This awareness ensures that stories are relevant, impactful, and capable of shaping the world positively. Engaging with diverse media sources and perspectives enriches storytelling, fostering a deeper connection with audiences and promoting a more informed and empathetic society.
Marketing Takes the Lead in Collaboration
Alexandra Saab Bjertnæs, Chief Strategy Officer, Meltwater
As marketers, we’re all perfectly aware that organizational silos can seriously inhibit the success of a business, putting up walls between teams that need to work together for shared success. And we know that we can be instrumental in solving the problem since 73% of marketers say their organizations are seen as strategic partners to other business functions.
I believe the drive to increase collaboration in marketing will be a significant trend in the near future since our own data shows that online conversations about the issue have increased by 41% percent year on year.
To achieve this, marketing leaders should align their goals with the wider business objectives, and this means ensuring that both marketing goals and business objectives are properly documented and communicated in the organization.
This is a strategic problem, but it’s not impossible to solve.
Set your team up for success with our recent report, The State of Marketing Collaboration, which we produced with Asana.
Optimizing Content for AI Chatbots
Brittany Paxman, Managing Partner, Point 600
In 2025, optimizing for AI will increase in importance. Rather than just using AI to create content and workflows that cater to humans, AI will be used to create content that appeals to other AI bots. AI will increasingly be an intermediary for humans. Humans will still interact and be the ultimate decision-makers, but AI will filter, recommend, and segment content and experiences for humans.
Search used to be the front door for marketing, and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) was the strategy for engagement. Now, rather than SEO, we're entering the era of AIO — AI Optimization. If you want to reach human audiences, you must first optimize for the AI bots that those humans are using. This will include the myriad stakeholders that marketers and communicators interact with, including consumers, journalists, B2B decision makers, analysts. The takeaway: start optimizing your content and plans for consumption by AI bots and not just humans.
AI-Driven “Narrative Attacks” on the Rise
Matt Alario, VP Partnerships, Blackbird.AI
Narrative attacks intertwined with cyber threats will be critical challenges for marketing and communications teams. Major brands have faced backlash when their initiatives clashed with cultural debates. Viral content dominates social media, and brands can quickly be targeted by coordinated disinformation campaigns aiming to damage their reputation and bottom line. The rise of AI in marketing also raises risks of narrative attacks created by deepfakes, disinformation, and manipulated content being weaponized against companies.
Executives must prioritize narrative intelligence and social listening applications to navigate this emerging threat vector. This means real-time monitoring for coordinated attacks, partnering with cybersecurity experts, and having a crisis communications plan informed by real-time narratives.
Brands that understand the emerging threat of narrative attacks and allocate resources accordingly will be resilient. Marketing and communication leaders can protect their brand's integrity and consumer trust by focusing on prevention and being ready to respond decisively.
Meltwater works with Blackbird.AI to help our customers protect themselves from narrative attacks.
Building Trust Through AI-Driven Personalization
Robert Harles, Founder & CEO, dig.human
In 2025, AI will be essential in delivering hyper-personalized marketing experiences, but its true value lies in using it to build customer trust. By analyzing data like browsing behavior, purchase history, and social media activity, AI can create real-time, individualized content tailored to each customer’s needs and preferences. As voice and visual search technologies become more integrated, brands will be able to offer even more tailored experiences, enhancing convenience and engagement.
However, for AI to foster trust, marketers must avoid common pitfalls. One key error is using AI to over-personalize in ways that feel intrusive or overly predictive, which can alienate customers. If AI recommendations feel too "creepy" or disconnected from real preferences, it may reduce customer trust. Additionally, transparency is critical—brands must clearly communicate how AI algorithms are used and how personal data is collected, stored, and protected. Without this transparency, consumers may feel their privacy is at risk.
Marketers who prioritize customer trust by ensuring their AI-driven personalization efforts are respectful, relevant, and secure will build stronger relationships. By focusing on delivering value through personalized experiences that respect privacy, brands can use AI not just to engage customers, but to earn and maintain their loyalty in an increasingly data-conscious world, and mitigate the risk of inevitable AI backlash.
New AI Regulations Will Benefit Marketers
Rob Key, Founder & CEO, Converseon
Greater emerging regulations for the design and deployment of AI will begin to impact media and social listening. A greater focus on accuracy, elimination of bias, model validation, tracking, auditing, and human-in-the-loop governance will rise to meet both internal AI policies and governance, as well as new regulations such as the AI EU Act, which apply not just to the builders of AI, but also "deployers."
These new standards however will come with greater benefits for the industry: greater trust in the data, more adoption, lower cost of operations (especially data corrections), and the ability more effectively utilize this data for more advanced use cases, such as predictive intelligence - including correlating this data to outcomes such as sales and shareholder value.
Marketing Trends 2025 Conclusion
2025 looks set to be an eventful year, with lots of change in the marketing industry and the wider world. We hope some of these thoughts from our selection of experts will help you to navigate the way ahead, but if you want some more insight into the big changes facing marketing next year, download our 2025 Marketing Trends Guide!